Smart-phone owners may soon have a small New Mexico firm to thank for some of their gadget’s rapid multifunctionality.

Optomec Inc. has developed high-tech laser printing systems to make metal-based components and electronic products. Two mainstream semiconductor and cell-phone manufacturers are testing a version of Optomec’s machines to make sophisticated “electronic interconnects” to string together the multiple circuits in three-dimensional chips that allow smart phones to process many tasks at once.

That could help cell-phone companies create smaller, next-generation devices that sport more functionality at faster speeds, said Dave Keicher, chief technology officer and co-founder of Optomec.

“We expect this to take us to a whole new level,” Keicher said.

Thanks to that project and growing sales of Optomec machines in other markets, company executives expect to reach $75 million in revenue by 2015.

Optomec owes much of its success to government research and development grants, which account for about $25 million of the $40 million it took to develop Optomec’s laser-printing machines.

The company has relied on government funding, including more than $8 million in Small Business Innovation Research grants, to prove its technology and prepare it for use in different industries. The SBIR program, administered by the Small Business Administration, helps companies commercialize new technologies. Businesses can receive up to $1.15 million in a two-phased grant to leverage development.

Funding comes from 11 federal agencies, including the departments of Defense and Energy, both of which awarded grants to Optomec.

Optomec originally did customized optics design and manufacturing. Revenue hovered about $300,000 until 1996, when Keicher joined the company from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. As an electrical engineer working on laser-processing technologies, Keicher helped Sandia develop a process called laser engineered net shaping, or LENS, to fabricate metal-based components.

LENS uses a laser to melt powdered metals. The laser then draws or prints computer-designed products with the pool of molten metal, building components one layer at a time. Keicher joined the company to commercialize that technology. From the start, he sought SBIR grants to develop LENS. But unlike many SBIR-backed companies, Optomec specifically sought grants to advance its core technology into well-defined commercial applications.

“Many companies just rely on SBIR grants to survive,” Keicher said. “They become R&D workshops, treadmills that never turn into a revenue stream. You have to have an end-game in sight and use SBIR and other grants to help you get there.”

Under Keicher’s direction, Optomec received $270,000 in three SBIR grants in 1997. That, in turn, helped attract $500,000 in private equity from angel investors. Then, in 1999, Optomec won a $9.5 million contract from the military to adapt LENS for the defense, aerospace and medical device sectors. Two years later, it won $9 million to upgrade the LENS system into a machine for microelectronics work.

That led to the launch of its Aerosol Jet Technology, which uses gold, silver and other alloys to make liquid inks for printed electronics. The jet machine creates a mist of material with fine droplets that are focused into a narrow beam to “write” electronics onto chips.

By 2005, the company moved away from research and development and into marketing. Revenue has grown rapidly since. LENS is used by aerospace and medical-device manufacturers for repair work. The Aerosol Jet is used for a range of electronics production.

The jet machine is particularly good for solar-cell development, said Maikel van Hest, a senior scientist with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., which uses it to test conducting materials on cells.

“The machine allows us to work with a large variety of metal-based inks,” van Hest said. “It makes very straight and parallel lines on a very small space.”

Prior to 2005, about 90 percent of the company’s revenue came from government funding and 10 percent from sales, said Optomec CEO Dave Ramahi. Now it’s the inverse.

“We’ve had average annual growth in sales of 30 percent per year in the last two years,” Ramahi said.

Nearly 60 percent of sales are in foreign markets, mostly in Europe and Asia, where Optomec is targeting semiconductor companies. It expects those markets to grow rapidly once the Aerosol Jet is successfully integrated into production of electronic interconnects for smart phones and other mobile devices.

Optomec still seeks government grants. It recently received $900,000 in SBIR funding from the Navy to create LENS capabilities for use in repairing advanced rotors in modern jet engines. John Woosley, director of the SBA New Mexico District Office, said Optomec has used SBIR and other government funding wisely.

“The intent is to help companies get started and then have them wean themselves away to stand on their own,” Woosley said. “It seems that’s what Optomec has done.”

Q&A

With Dave Ramahi

Biggest risk taken:

Maintaining investments during the recession. Optomec didn’t cut its work force or slow product development, which improved its competitive edge as the economy rebounds.

Guiding principle:

Be employee-oriented internally and customer-oriented externally.

Biggest challenge:

Access to capital. Optomec has never taken institutional venture capital or large bank loans, instead generating cash for investment through sales and research grants.

Next goal:

Transition a customer into high-volume manufacturing with Optomec machines.

Company Owners:

Company Address:

Company Phone:

Company Website:

Founded:

1982

Employees:

45

Revenue:

$9 million (2010)

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